The present embodiments relate generally to an endoluminal prosthesis having modular branches, and systems and methods for facilitating deployment of such an endoluminal prosthesis.
Using stent grafts to treat aneurysms is common in the medical field. Stent grafts may be deployed by accessing a vasculature with a small incision in the skin and guiding a delivery system to the target area. This intraluminal delivery is less invasive and generally preferred over more intrusive forms of surgery. Multiple stent grafts may be implanted using intraluminal delivery to provide a system of interconnected stent grafts. Interconnected stent grafts can be made of fenestrated stent grafts and smaller side branch stent grafts, including bifurcated components.
Sometimes aneurysms engulf a vessel and its branch vessels, such as the aorta and the renal arteries, the aortic arch and the branch arteries, or the iliac arteries. In such instances, a fenestrated graft can be implanted in the main vessel while smaller branch grafts can be deployed in the branch arteries. The main vessel grafts have fenestrations that correspond with the openings of the branch vessels. The smaller branch grafts are joined with the main vessel graft at the fenestrations. Due to the torsion and rigors of the endovascular system, this juncture can be subject to significant stress.
Moreover, when a condition such as an aneurysm has engulfed a main vessel and multiple branch vessels, it may be relatively time consuming to deliver the smaller branch grafts needed in addition to the main graft. For example, insertion of wire guides and delivery devices may be time consuming and/or difficult to perform when multiple smaller branch grafts are deployed to cannulate multiple corresponding branch vessels.
Furthermore, the complex anatomy can vary from patient to patient, such that pre-fabricated grafts having fenestrations therein to correspond to various branch arteries may not be suitable for all patients. Manufacture of grafts that can correspond to a particular patient's anatomy can be undesirably time consuming.
Juxtarenal aneurysms, thoracoabdominal aneurysms, and failed endografts or previous open surgical repairs can require deployment of an endoluminal prosthesis such as a graft to repair the failure or aneurysm. Previously placed endografts include a flow divider for diverting flow from the aorta to renal arteries. This results in a short distance between the flow divider and the renal arteries. Given the complex anatomy from patient to patient, repair of a failed graft can be time consuming due to the need to replace the failed graft with a graft having a configuration that can conform to the particular anatomy. Thus, surgeons may have to wait for the prosthesis to be configured to conform to the anatomy, causing an increased time in repairing the failed graft or aneurysm.